HAMDEN, Conn. – Penn State made a valiant effort, but the comeback bid fell just short as No. 8 Quinnipiac held on for the 3-2 victory in the first-ever meeting between the two teams in non-conference action at M&T Bank Arena on Saturday evening.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Quinnipiac (1-0-0) opened the scoring netting a pair just over two minutes apart as Jeremy Wilmer slipped in a rebound at the near post at 12:10 of the first period before Andon Cerbone redirected a point shot past Nittany Lion junior net-minder Arsenii Sergeev (Yaroslavl, Russia) at the 14:23 mark.
The Bobcats extended the lead just 66 ticks into the second period as Wilmer redirected a backdoor shot-pass from Davis Pennington for the 3-0 advantage.
Penn State (2-1-0) clawed its way back into it early in the third period as senior Ben Schoen (Maumee, Ohio) notched a powerplay tally just 59 ticks into the frame as he found the yawning net after the puck bounced off the skate of sophomore Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) for the 3-1 deficit.
The Nittany Lions pushed things closer as senior Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) wrapped one into a yawning net after Fink’s initial chance was turned aside at the 6:04 mark of the final stanza.
GOALTENDING
Sergeev drops to 2-1-0 on the year after making 19 saves in the defeat while his counterpart, Matej Marinov moves to 1-0-0 after stopping 18-of-20 shots in the game.